WUNRN
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini*
“Women are key assets for peace, yet the international
community continues to ignore or marginalise them.”
Gender and conflict
expert Sanam Naraghi Anderlini analyses the roles women play in conflict
situations, and the challenges they face when contributing to the peace
process.
Are women really
peaceful?
This question inevitably
arises in any discussion about women’s inclusion or contributions to peace
making.
To some Western
women the assumption that women are peace-oriented implies being too ‘soft’. It
is unfortunate because talking, diplomacy and compromise are much tougher and
complex than relying on military options.
People question
whether women are peaceful by pointing to the women leaders such as Margaret
Thatcher, Golda Meir and others who led their countries into war. They point to
the women joining ISIS or the female members in armed rebel movements, such as
Farc in Colombia or the Maoists in Nepal, to prove that women are not peaceful.
Women make up part of the
Maoist insurgents, Nepal, 2004. Photo: Ami Vitale | Getty Images
These examples only
tell a small part of the story. Half of humanity cannot be homogenous in its
actions. Context also matters.
Women’s violence in context
There are three
ways of addressing the question. The first answer could be ‘no’, women are not
peaceful. As individuals, women can be violent or supportive of violence.
Plenty join armies, armed groups or other movements that advocate and
perpetrate violence.
For some women
military service is a route towards equality, empowerment, and out of
oppression. Many of the Nepali women in the Maoist movement joined to fight for
the principles of equality and social justice that the movement espoused.
Women join after
witnessing the army killing their fathers, husbands or brothers. Some join
fleeing violence at home or avenging their own rape. Some are coerced.
There are instances
of women cajoling their male relatives to avenge or seek retribution against
violence done to them, but globally, women still make up the minority of armed
groups or militaries.
The second response
is ‘yes’, if women’s collective actions – as women’s movements organising to
fight for basic rights, self-determination – are considered.
Throughout history
and across the world, women’s collective organising has been rooted in
non-violence, using civil resistance and other tactics to arrive at their
goals.
The Afghan women’s
movement is a case in point. Despite enduring thirty years of war and direct
oppression, despite death threats and attacks, Afghan women continue their
struggle for rights and peace, non-violently.
There is inherent
irony and contradiction. Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi are revered for
their adherence to non-violence. But most leaders and activists in women’s
rights movements are typically neither celebrated nor revered, while those who
used violence are often recalled in the historical narratives.
From pain to peaceful action
The final answer is
to consider how women collectively and individually contribute to ending
violence and peace-making in war- and conflict-affected contexts.
Time and again,
personal experiences have driven individual women to rise up as advocates and
activists for peace.
In Sri Lanka,
Visaka Dharmadasa channelled the pain she felt after the disappearance of her
son (serving in the military) towards seeking out the rebel leaders and
initiating a dialogue that contributed to a ceasefire. She chose to think of
the rebels, mostly young men, through the lens of a mother, even though they
were responsible for her loss.
Similarly in the
USA, women who had lost sons and husbands in 9/11, not only instigated the 9/11
Commission, but also established charitable organisations promoting empathy for
victims of violence and celebrating religious diversity.
This capacity to
draw on profound pain and focus on the positive is an extraordinary quality.
In Somalia, a group
of senior and elite women used their status to reach across warring clans and
encourage their participation in peace talks, and negotiated the reopening of
the airport and hospital with al-Shabaab rebels.
Creative solutions to conflict
Not all women in a
women’s rights movement are drawn to peace activism. Not all women peace
activists emerge from the rights movements.
While a minority,
women who combine peace and rights activism can bridge the gaps and bring
forward constituencies from both camps. Their successes are based on the
strategies and tactics they have designed, often culturally and context
specific, and rooted in the invisible power they hold.
Across many countries
women have used sex strikes as a tactic in their broader efforts to end
fighting.
In Sierra Leone,
elder women associated with the Church sought a meeting with the leader of the
rebel movement. They were insulted, and in response, they lifted their skirts
and bared themselves, knowing the consequences. Their actions triggered the
mobilisation of the men of the Church who had to fight for the honour of the
women. It led to the end of the violence.
In Liberia, women
directly intervened in a fraught disarmament process and convinced the young
men to hand in their weapons.
In many settings,
they have brought important information and perspectives into the peace process
on issues as wide ranging as security, justice, governance and economic
recovery.
While belligerents
are often focused on their share of power, women are focused on the
responsibilities they bear for their communities, families, and children.
Even senior women
in the rebel movements in El Salvador and Guatemala conflicts, who entered negotiations
as seasoned fighters and representatives of their groups, quickly became aware
of – and advocates for – marginalised constituencies, especially women.
Time to recognise the work of women
Invariably their
understanding of peace and the proverbial peace table is more nuanced and
complex than warring parties or mediators. Women know that ending the violence
is a priority, but they also recognise that it cannot be done effectively
without addressing the root causes of war, and articulating a shared vision of
peace and society.
Women taking part in the
2012 Egypt revolution. Photo: Emad Karim
Nowhere is this
more evident than in the Middle East today. In the struggle against rising
extremism and state militarism, women in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Egypt and beyond
are daring to stand up and speak out. They condemn the violence perpetrated by
all sides. They are the first responders, providing relief, care and normalcy
in the midst of chaos. And despite the violence and death threats, they know
that military responses will never end the crisis. They draw on their own
history to uphold human rights, plurality and peace. They are the only
transnational movement offering a shared alternative vision and values to those
espoused by the extremists.
“We ask the world,
why are you all helping us kill each other,” says one Syrian activist. “Why are
you not helping us talk to each other?”
Women are key
assets for peace, yet the international community continues to ignore or
marginalise them. Perhaps it’s time to turn the question around. Why does the
world continue to ignore or undermine women who are courageous enough to fight
for peace, peacefully?
*Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Co-Founder of the International Civil Society Action
Network (ICAN), has published
extensively on gender, peace and security issues. She was one of the civil
society drafters of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and
security.